The midsized car segment is slowly recovering from its deep crisis after a record low sales last year, and at +10% even grows slightly faster than the overall market at +8,3%. For the most part, this is the result of the new generations of two of the segment’s best selling nameplates, as most of the other models still suffer large volume declines.

The traditional leader Volkswagen Passat tightens its stranglehold on the segment, with more than one in every three cars sold in this segment being the new generation Passat. The model sells more than double of its nearest competitor, the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, down 3%.

In third place and second-fastest growing model in the top-10 is the all-new Ford Mondeo. Well, technically not all-new since it’s been on sale as the Ford Fusion in the US for almost three years already. But it is a new generation Mondeo for Europe and it adds more than a third to last year’s record low volume for the model, surpassing both the recently facelifted Peugeot 508 and the Skoda Superb. [Read more…]

Europe’s second biggest segment keeps growing faster than the overall market, but only slightly at 10% for the compact car segment vs. 8,3% for all cars. The tight grip the Volkswagen Golf has held on the segment the last few years seems to soften a little bit, as the Golf grows slower than the segment. Still, more than one in every five compact cars sold in Europe is a Golf, and the VW Group has a 40% share of the segment, although that’s admittedly lower than 2014’s 44%.

The Ford Focus is stable on the first quarter of last year, despite its recent facelift. It does hold on to its second place, but just like its smaller sibling the Fiesta, it has strong March volume in the UK to thank for that. In January and February, the Skoda Octavia clearly outsold the Focus and even the Peugeot 308 came within 1.000 units for the two months combined. With over 32.000 units, more than half of the Ford’s volume in this quarter was registered in March alone.

The aforementioned 308 is the strongest gainer in the top-20 of the segment thanks to the new generation, its station wagon version and the European Car Of The Year award in March of last year. This also means it’s now officially outselling the Opel/Vauxhall Astra for the first time since 2004 and is likely to continue to do so for the rest of the year, as the latter won’t be replaced until the end of the year. [Read more…]

The subcompact car segment has grown 3% in the first quarter of 2015, which is slower than the overall market, but up from almost zero growth in 2014.

As traditionally, the Ford Fiesta has held on to its lead, although the competition is getting stronger. The top-4 of the model ranking are within 10.000 units of each other, and only has its strong showing in the UK market in March to thank for its continued dominance. In January and February, the Volkswagen Polo was the segment leader, followed by the Renault Clio, pushing the Fiesta down into third place both months. But its best month in three years has helped the little Ford recover in March. It sold over 47.700 units in Europe that month, more than January and February combined, and more than 27.000 of those sales were registered in the UK.

It will be interesting to see if the aging Fiesta can hold on to its crown until the end of the year, with the Clio seemingly on a strong run, unaffected by cannibalization from the Captur small crossover, and both the Polo and the Corsa recently having been facelifted. [Read more…]

The shift from mainstream to premium is best visible in the coupe segments, where sales of coupe models from mainstream brands have dropped by almost one fourth last year, while sales of premium brands have increased by a third to become more than twice as big a segment.

All models in the mainstream coupe segment lost volume in 2014, as the ranking has remained virtually the same as last year. The Opel/Vauxhall Astra GTC still leads ahead of the Renault Megane Coupe and the Volkswagen Scirocco, all three with sales down less than the overall segment.

The Peugeot RCZ holds on to its fourth place, as its nearest competitors all lose more than half of their volumes, with the Hyundai Veloster taking the hardest hit and being overtaken by the Renault Laguna Coupe. The Nissan 370Z fares the least bad of all coupes, with sales down just 3% or 14 units despite its age. The 370Z is now not too far behind the Subaru BRZ anymore, its closest Japanese rear-wheel drive competitor. [Read more…]

Sales of convertible cars have slowed their decline in 2014, but the segment still has reached a record low for the continent. An easy explanation for this is the crisis that has hit many European manufacturers hard, so they can no longer afford to spend a lot of development and marketing Euros on slow selling models, even if they could work as image-builders for the brand. Faced with the decision whether to develop a low-volume cabriolet or a potential high-volume crossover, most of the mainstream manufacturers have opted for the latter.

It doesn’t help that droptop models don’t sell outside of Europe and the US, which means that the market remains limited to just Europe in the case of the French brands, who used to make some of the most popular cabriolets on the market with the Peugeot 207CC and 307CC / 308CC or Renault Megane CC. As these models are being phased out without any word on a ragtop version of their successors, sales of convertibles in France are down the harshest of all markets.

The Fiat 500C continues to lead the segment, although it’s technically not a 100% cabriolet, because its B-pillar and C-pillar remain intact as its roof is basically not much more than a large sliding canvas sunroof, a similar system as the DS3 Cabrio. [Read more…]

European sales of minicars, also known as A-segment cars, are up 10% in the first quarter of 2015, after being virtually flat in 2014. The introduction of a handful of new and redesigned models in the second quarter of last year has helped the segment grow faster than the overall European car market.

The Fiat 500 is now in its 8th full year since its introduction without any major redesigns, continues to improve on its best-ever year, although sales of the stylish Italian grow slower than the rest of the segment. Its sibling, the Fiat Panda closes in on the segment’s top spot it traditionally held until 2013.

The third place of the Volkswagen Up! is threatened by the all-new Renault Twingo, which manages to improve 44% vs. a 12% drop in sales for the small VW. The Twingo enjoyed an especially successful month of February, moving into third place for that month. However in March, the third place of the segment was taken by the Hyundai i10, which wasn’t enough for the small South-Korean minicar to fend off the surging Toyota Aygo with sales up 30% thanks to the new generation. [Read more…]

By now you’re used to my monthly updates on European car sales, and from now on I’ll be keeping you up-to-date on monthly car sales in China as well. You can also use the dropdown menu at the top right of this website to find brand-specific and model-specific auto sales in China of every model and brand since 2003. Keep in mind, the data I use is only comprised of locally produced models and excludes imported models.

After showing double-digit growth for decades, the growth of the Chinese car market seems to have slowed down in 2015. Mind you, this doesn’t indicate the market is shrinking, it merely indicates the growth rate is tempering to a more modest speed. However, after growing 13,55% in the first quarter of 2015, April growth has thawed to only 8,1%, almost half the growth rate of last April and a record low for the once-booming Chinese car market. When including imported models, the picture is even bleaker: +3,7% in April.

And while domestic carmakers have been losing market share at home for a few years now, April 2015 marks a slowdown of both imports and of foreign models locally built by the Joint Ventures the foreign carmakers have set up with their local partners. This phenomenon can be explained by two trends: [Read more…]

I haven’t published a lot of posts this month, as I’ve attended the Barcelona and Monaco Formula 1 races, spending more than a week at each location. Fortunately, I’ve taken a lot of pictures, especially at Monaco. If you followed me on Twitter, you’d have seen most of these photos “live” as I posted them there as well.

In Spain, the track is located about 30km from downtown Barcelona and as a result, Formula One doesn’t seem to vibe that much in the city. Barcelona is always packed with tourists, and apart from a few billboards and advertising signs (mostly from Martini), you couldn’t really tell the difference from a normal weekend. While in Monaco, the Grand Prix weekend means that half of the roads in the 2 km² (0.78 square mile) principality are closed and it is turned into the temporary capital of Formula One, with billboards of F1 sponsors all over the place.

One is used to cars designed for the Indian market often looking rather ridiculous: think tall and narrow Nano, the booted Renault Thalia (Clio), or, even worse, the Suzuki Swift sedan. That is why the newest Renault for the Indian market, the Kwid, is a very pleasant surprise – it not only looks good, it looks European-good! Not only that, it is based on an all-new CMF-A platform from the Renault-Nissan alliance, though a 0.8-liter petrol unit will likely ensure its more “show” than “go”. Still, starting at below $5,000 in India, the car looks to be a great hit, and will surely be sold in markets around the world.

What is weird about it, though, is that it looks a whole lot like another car from Renault’s sister company: the Dacia Sandero Stepway. A smaller, better-executed version, sure – but the family resemblance is undeniable.

Following months of teasers Chevrolet finally revealed the all-new Camaro, and a handsome beast it is too! It also represents the best trend in recent years among car-makers: to make the new-gen cars smaller and lighter. Here it scores some major points over the Ford Mustang, which grew both larger and heavier in the new generation, making it less of a pony and more of a slightly overweight steed. The Camaro, on the other hand, looks lean, mean, and ready for action!